Seller is 'taking' furniture despite my including it in offer letter?

[Rae34]

I have a worse than useless solicitor who I have spoken to just twice even though my date of entry is in 2 days. Really tearing my hair out here and have had no documents of any kind but anyway.

He has finally contacted me and said 'the seller is taking x pieces of furniture during the move, is that okay?'. This means I will now have nothing at all to sit in in the living room to start - these furniture pieces were included in the offer. What are my legal rights??

Sorry @MRex, got muddled - previous comment aimed at @Rae34

They sold it you bought it, end of. Like has been said already remind them and if really want to take, must buy from you.

Hey OP - I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if what I'm about to say has been suggested. I really feel for you. This is exactly what happened when I bought my first flat.

The seller had the flat let out, so it was furnished for the tenant. I went in with an offer slightly under asking price and she said she'd include all furniture and white goods if I paid the asking price. As I was coming from rented accommodation with none of my own stuff, and it was only an extra £2k, I thought why not.

In the run up to exchange, the seller had written on the paperwork which lists the fixtures and fittings 'all items in flat, which is furnished, are included in the price'.

As I felt this was a bit vague ('items'), I requested to EA that I enter the property before exchange to take an inventory, which I shared with them pointing out the furniture that she could remove if she wanted and the stuff I definitely wanted to keep - chests of drawers, foot stools, mirrors etc.

After exchange, I visited the property and realised she had taken some of the items that were supposed to be included in the price. I immediately raised it with the EA and they reported back that the seller 'was not going to return the property nor pay any money to cover the cost of it'. The cheek!

This really p**sed me off, so I went onto the Which? website, where they have a template for a 'Letter before action' which is a legal letter that warns someone that you'll take them to the small claims court if they don't provide the goods or services promised.

I gave her 28 days to respond, and on day 27, she agreed to pay me money for the items she'd taken. Yaaasss!

Oh OP I wold definitely luck up a fuss now that it's clear the chair was included (it sounds lovely and you need to make sure you get enough discount to buy your own if they won't budge on it). Crossing my fingers for you that you have some happy news to share next week one way or another!

I moved in with a kettle, a carpet and a camp bed. I'd have loved a sofa whatever the condition.

Not sure but surely this would have been agreed between yourself and the seller rather than solicitors at time of offer?

Go back and say: no actually it isn't. This was agreed at time of offer so go back and rectify it and whilst you're at it, get your bloody finger out!

If it was included in the price, then you will need to agree a lower price which takes this into account. Nice try Vendor! Explain to your solicitors that as it is part of the agreed price then it is definitely not OK! Perhaps mention that you will need financial compensation for anything they do take; this would be based on your perception at the time you agreed the price.

You probably have a legal right. Ask for a sum of money and then you can buy your own. I've never heard of furniture being left in a house sale as part of the house sale. Curtains are sometimes left, though. When I was a child the former owners left the kitchen table but it wasn't actually part of the sale. I thought it was a bit weird at the time.

Hi everyone - yesterday was mad but I am now a home owner! I can't believe it. It went right to the wire, the solicitor kept us guessing to the very last hour and I for the keys last night. The estate phoned me and said the only reason this went through is because we made it go through. He said he has never experienced such an awful solicitor in all his years. I asked him for the letter about the factor fees and he replied 'oh yes, yes I think I put that somewhere' - honestly!

I am going to lodge a complaint of course. But other than that - I am so happy with my new home. I love it. The light fixtures and white goods were all there. Curtains too. The seller also left a bottle of champagne for me.

Congratulations op, enjoy your new home, I'm sure it was worth all the stress!

Thank you @Strongswans. I think so.

I will need to follow up on when I will receive the title deeds as the solicitor did not mention it. Does anyone here know the usual timeframe and protocol for this?

Congrats op. I think you should ask mumsnet if there is anything else that usually happens on a sale so you know what to look out for as your solicitor sounds like a complete waste of space! And list all the errors to someone more senior at his firm. And don’t just pay whatever bill they send.

I'm glad to read you are in your home. Please put in a complaint and don't pay their bill or at least withhold some of it until this is dealt with.

They might go to your mortgage provider if you have one. Useless solicitor should be able to tell you. Enjoy your new home.

Years ago I bought a flat,( house convert )
It had been a large Victorian house but now was a downstairs flat and my upstairs flat. I sold it after living there for several years, only to discover I owned the front garden, had no bloody idea. Plus other things too crappy to mention. Just to let you know your solicitor is not the only numpty.

Rae congratulations!
Enjoy your new home. I don’t think most people get physical title deeds now, it’s electronic. The last custodian of the title deeds (mortgage company etc) may have destroyed them. As yours is an older property the physical deeds might be interesting, you might need to ask for them. Try and ask for the secretary, not the solicitor.

Great update, but what about the chair?!?

Happy new home, OP. Enjoy it.

Congratulations op, sorry the process was unnecessarily stressful. Enjoy your new home, you will be so relieved!

Your solicitor should have had the title deeds in his/her possession for examination. If you have a mortgage the mortgage company might have them now. Speak to your solicitor because they might have copies for you. If it is a Morden property you might be able to obtain them from registers of Scotland.
All the best.

Sorry I meant modern*.
PS: Registers of Scotland won't have any building warrants or completion certificates if the property was altered.

I quite liked kick uppitiest stink

I bought my current property and paid an additional £100 for the furniture - moved in to a whole pile of junk that I had to get rid of. The key thing I wanted was the curtains, 6 windows with a 4.5 metre drop and several of them 4 metres wide. The ones that were here did me for a couple of years. I still have a picture and a duvet cover somewhere, 25+ years on.